Refrigerator construction.



D. W. TOWER.

REFRIGERATOR CONSTRUCTION.

- APPLICATION FILED DEC- 7' i914- I 1,209,080 4 Patented De0.19,-19 16.

3 SHEETSSHEET l- D. W. TOWER.

REFRIGERATOR CONSTRUCTION.

APPLICATION FILED use. 7. 1914.

Patented Dec. 19, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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D. W. TOWER.

REFRIGERATOR CONSTRUCTION.

APPLICATION FILED 0501,1914.

Patenfed Dec. 19, 1916.

3 'SHEETSSHEET 3.

W1 masses. f/pzua/zo DANIEL W. TOWER, OF GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN.

BEIRIGERATOR CONSTRUCTION.

T 0 all whom it may concern Be it knownthat I,'DA1\1EL IV. TOWER, acitizen of the United States of America, residing at Grand Rapids, in the county of Kent and State of Michigan, haveinvented certain new and useful, Improvements in Refrigerator Construction; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,

and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains'to make and use the same.

This invention relates to a construction especially adaptedto be used with refrigerators. Inrefrigerators, to gain access to provisions held thereby, ithas commonly or the provision compartment of the refrigerator designed to hold. milk and butter especially, these being articles which are most commonly put in or taken out of the refrigerator, and to so construct this rack that it will be readily and easily withdrawn from the refrigerator without the necessity of opening the large door to the provision compartment, merely opening an auxiliary door behind which said device is located, thereby permitting the escape of'a relatively small volume of cold air.

It is a further purpose of this invention to construct the rack with a member which will automatically close the opening in the refrigerator when the rack is drawn out, shutting off the entrance of warm air and the escape of cold air from the refrigerator.

A still further object and purpose of the invention is to construct the rack in such manner that the cold air of the refriger-' Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 19,1916.

Application filed December 7 1914. Serial No. 875,865.

drawn, said construction in this instance being located at one side of the ice-chamber. Fig. 2 is. a, front elevation of a modified form in which the rack is located in the provision chamber of the refrigerator. Fig. 3 is'a view similar to Fig. 2, of the lower portion of a refrigerator showing the door to the provision chamber open. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of therack and the connected extension guide therefor. Fig. 5 is a plan view thereof. Figs. 6 and 7 are a plan and a side elevation of the extension guide respectively. Figs. 8, 9 and 10 are respectively sectional views taken on the lines 88, 99 and 10l0 of Fig. 6, lookingin the direction indicated by the arrows;

and Fig. 11 is a fragmentary side elevation of the extension guide illustrating the method of separation of certain parts of said guide.

Like referencev characters refer to like parts throughout the several views of the.

drawings. a

The refrigerator illustrated at 1 may be of any conventional design having aprovision compartment closed by the door 2 above which compartment is located the ice chamber back of the front 3. In the niodification shown in Fig. 1 a small door 4 is located at one side of the front 3, back of which may be placed the rack for holding different provisions, this rack in such case lying immediately alongside the ice in the ice-box. It is not necessary, however, in the use of the invention that it shall be located at any precise spot in the refrigerator. For instance, the door 2 to the provision compartment may have at one side thereof-a small door 5, similar to the door, 4 above The rack comprises in its construction a front U-shaped member having spaced apart vertical sides 6 connected by an upper cross bar 7 and a rear U-shaped member having similar vertical sides 8 connected by the cross bar 9. said rear member in all respects being similar to the front member except that it is less in height. Spaced apart horizontal bars 10*eonnect the vertical members 6 and 7 as shown forming a skeleton frame, the bars 10 intermediate their ends having secured thereto in any able therefrom when the back is slightly suitable manner vertical bars 11 which serve to strengthen the frame. Gross members 12 lie between and are soldered or otherwise suitably secured to the lower ends of the members 6, 8 and 11 and beneath and attached to these cross members are the strips 13 which extend the full length of the frame forming a bottom therefor, and at their forward ends may be curved downwardly at 14 to form finger pulls by which the rack may be withdrawn from the refrigerator. Cross members 15 and 16 divide the rack into aplurality of compartments. A plurality of angle guide members 17 are located horizontally in the front compartment thus formed,- being secured in any suitable manner at the inner sides of vertical members 6' and 11 and serve as sup.

ports for a plurality of shallow trays 18, each of which at its-front end is provided with-an extension 19 by means of which it may be manually withdrawn In the design of this rack, the trays are shown as of a shape and separated sufficiently from each other that each may receive and hold a pound of butter conventional package. The rear compartments are each of such dimensions as to conveniently receive the standard bottle in which milk is ordinarily contained.

A back member 20 is detachably secured at the rear end of the rack having fastened on its front side angle members 21 and 22 which are adapted to fit over the upper and lower cross members 9 and 12,'respe'ctively, at the rear of the rack being readily removelevated. In practice the back is formed of sheet metal of slight thickness making a very light and durable construction. The rack thus constructed is mounted for slidable movement in the refrigerator, it being adapted to be contained entirely within the refrigerator or withdrawn substantially outside. To

attain these ends I have secured on the underside of the rack a bar 23 connected at its ends and adjacent its middle by Z-shaped brackets 24: to the cross-members 12'of the rack; Slidably mounted on the bar 23 is a channel 25, it in turn slidably receiving a larger channel 26 which is provided with angle brackets 27 and 28 by means of which it may be permanently secured to any. convenient support in the refrigerator. The channel 25 at its front end is provided with a laterally extending stop 29 and at its rear end with a stop 30 extending in-a direction opposite the stop 29. The middle cross member 12has' secured thereto an angle shaped bracket 31- whichas the rack is withdrawn from the refrigerator will strike against the stop 29 thereby withdrawing the channel 25 from channel 26. A sheet metal member 32 is pivotally attached at one end to the channel and has a portion 33 bent unfrom the rack.

in the moaoeo derneath and then turned upwardly at its end alongside the opposite side of the channel as shown at 36k. As the channel 25 is withdrawn fromchannel 26 the stop 30 car- 20, will close the opening in the refrigerator I made by opening the doors 4 or 5 and preventing the escape of the cold air therefrom. It will be noted that the member 32 may be turned to the position indicated in Fig. 11 permitting the stop 30 to pass over the portion 36% whereby the rack with the attached guide members 23 and 25-may be disconnected from the refrigerator for cleaning. 01'- dinarily the inner edgeof the portion 34 will frictionally engage against channel 26 to retain it in its upper position as shown in Figs. 7 and 10 but by the exertionof slight force said member 32 may be operated to the position shown in Fig. 11. The connection of the channel 26 to the-refrigerator.

may be made in any desired manner, a bracket35 secured to a side of the provision box being shown in Fig. 3 as a support for said channel and passing around the rack to steady it during its sliding movements.

Various changes and modifications in structure may be resorted to without departing from the invention which is defined in the appended ;claims. llhe disclosure made should, accordingly, be considered diagrammatic and illustrative of the invention and not in any sense as limitingit to any certain and precise structure other than required by the said claims.

I claim 1. In a refrigerator construction, a rack having sides comprised of spaced apart vertical and horizontal bars, said sides connected together by upper and lower cross members, cross members interposed between the ends of the sides dividing the rack intocompartments, spaced apartguide members positioned in horizontal relationin the f:ont compartment and trays carried by said guide members and adapted to be slidably withdrawn from the compartment, substantially as described. v

2. In combination, a refrigerator having a front opening therein, aclosure for said opening, a rack located back of the opening and mounted: to project through the opening, said rack having sides of open formation connected together by spaced apart upper and lower cross members, spaced apart.

strips secured to the lower cross members and lying lengthwise of the rack, means above the other in the front compal tment, and a, sheet of continucus material positioned substantially vertically and secured at the rear of the rack, said sheet having dimensions suchv that it substantially fills the opening in the refrigerator but may pass therethrongh, substantially v v as described.

In testimony ivhereof I aflix my signature" in presence of two Witnesses. I

DANIEL W. TOWER. lVitnesses:

- J. L. MURRAY,

CHAS. DALVINI. 

